There’s probably no word in the English language that sounds quite so calm, cool, clear and refreshing than the word ‘lake’—even more than other water names like River and Bay and Brook.

Lake as a name came to the fore via the film and television actress LakeBell, and could make an especially cool middle name. But what about the names of individual lakes? Looking through the atlas, we found plenty of inspiration there, and these are our Namebery Picks of the twelve best.

1. Annecy—Lake Annecy is the second largest—and cleanest—lake in France, surrounded by mountains and quaint villages. Annecy could make for a completely unique and charmingly dainty Ann or Annie namesake.

2. Caspian—Considered a large lake, a sea, and even in ancient times an ocean, Caspian became a human name via the Prince in the fourth book of C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series. Strong and appealing, it’s become a recent Nameberry fave.